Method of treating articles produced in one machine and consumed in another machine



Aug. 1, 1933. J. NEFF 1,920,762

METHOD OF TREATING ARTICLES PRODUCED IN oNE MACHINE AND CONSUMED IN ANOTHER MACHINE Filed May 5, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Z 1; 7 12.4mm

J. NEFF 1,920,762 METHOD OF TREATING ARTICLES PRODUCED IN ONE MACHINE AND CONSUMED IN ANOTHER MACHINE Flled May 5, 1930 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 7 Aug. 1, 1933.

Aug 1, 1933. J NEFF 1,920,762

METHOD OF TREATING ARTICLES PRODUCED IN ONE MACHINE AND CONSUMED IN ANOTHER MACHINE Filed May 5, 1930 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Fig.

and later are further treated sequently the Patented Aug. 1, @333 is a": I

regatta eaten seine :iun'rnon or 'rnnAri noose in our.

No narrows rao MACHINE AND CQNSUMED IN NEACHINE i Johannes Neff, Dresden,-

the Firm ill iverselle Fabrilr. .l. (J. Muller an Application May 5, 1930,

Germany, assignor to Crgarcttenmaschinen- 00., Dresden, Germany Serial No. ceases, and

in Germany January 13, 1330 11 Claims. (Cl. l98--19) As is well known. articles such as for W v example cigarette boxes are produced in one machine in another machine, for example in a packeting machine i. e. to be filled with cigarettes.

While at present articles produced in a producingmachine are generally transported on feeding bands or the like to a machine in which they are consumed or subjected to further treatment it has been proposed even with slowly running machines to first pile the products and then store said piles in collectors. Subproducts are removed from the collectors and individually deposited in the magazines of the article consuming machines.

As distinguishing therefrom the present invention consists in that the articles delivered from theprodiicihg machine are collected in an intermittently displaceable bin or collector in adjacent piles, whereupon the filled bin suitably positioned relative to a magazine by a corresponding intermittent displacement of said bin 1s caused to empty its separate piles. Accordingly all articles are first delivered into a collector in a number. of adjacent piles and after said collector is lled it is placed directly over a channel or magazine and is so controlled that the products are automatically removed from the individual piles of the collector and are fed in a continuous, train to the articleconsuming machine. In this manner it is possible without any intermediate steps and uninterruptedly to transfer the products from the article producing machine to the article consuming or utilizing machine, affording thereby the possibility of compensating any differences that may exist between the working capacities I of the two separate machines, by either increasing the number of producing machines or that of the article consuming or utilizing'machines, thus always providing a sufficient supply of .working material. i p

In the present embodiment the products are assumed to be cigarette boxes. My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which similar reference characters denote coresponding parts, and in which:-

ig. 1 is a vertical longitudinal section of the box collecting apparatus;

Fig. 2 a section along line 2-2 of Fig. 1-;

Fig- 3 is a detail thereof; and

Figs. 4 and 5 are an elevation and a vertical section respectively, of an apparatus for feeding the boxes from the filled bin to cigarette box packetingmachine. r

Referring first to the apparatus shown in .minates in the opening 16' provided in a table Figs. 1 3 the cigarette boxes W producedin a producing machine (not shown) are adapted to be deposited in a bitter collector 44 in uniform piles.

They are fed from the producing machine by means of entraining members 2 mounted on a feed chain 1 along the feed track 3 to a stop 4. The end portionof the feed track 3 is formed by a vertically reciprocating plunger 5 which when the box -V/' passes from the feed chain into its path occupies the position shown in full lines in Fig. 1.

Engaging the plunger rod 5 by means of a pin 6 is. a

forked lever 7 fulcrumed at 8. The rearend of said lever 7 is provided with a roller!) which cooperates with a cam disk 10 driven from a shaft 12 at a speed corresponding to the travel of the chain 1. A spring 13 fixed at 14 presses the roller 9 of the lever? constantly against the cam 10. The plunger 5 is arranged adjacent a channel 15 whose upper open end ter- 18. Mounted on said table 16 is a slide 17 having prismatic ledges 18 the lower faces of which are formed to racks. These racks are adapted to mesh with pinions 19 freely rotatable on shafts 20. These pinions 19 are provided laterally with toothed disks 21 the teeth of which are adapted to engage theteeth of cor responding disks 22 provided on pinions 23 which are respectively loosely rotatable and slid able on said shafts 20. The toothed disks 21 and 22 form clutch couplings which serve the purpose to be hereinafter specified.

Springs 24 hearing atone end against a frame portion 25 always urge the toothed disks 21 and 22 into coupling position whereby the pinions 23 and 19 are coupled. Meshing with the pinions 23 are pinions 26 which are made of a width corresponding to the extent ofthe' displaces.- bility of the pinions 23 on the shaft 20.- These inions 26 are mounted on a shaft 27 on which are also mounted worm wheels 28Which mesh with worms 29 disposed at right angles thereto; I To control the number of articles making up each pile, I provide; the following mechanismze Mounted on a common spindle 31 with the worms 29 are worms 30 which mesh with worm wheels 32 mounted on the common driving shaft 33. Also mounted on said shaft 33 are jcrank disks 34 tolthe crank pins 35 of'which are con- 5 nected connecting rods 36.- These connecting rods are pivoted at 37 to levers 38 which are loosely rotatable on the shafts 2"{. Fixe d to the upper endsof the levers 33 are pins 39' each of which carries a pawl 40 and a lever 41 110 equipped with a roller. The rollers of, said 1evers 41 are adapted to cooperate with cam disks 42 provided on the worm wheels 28 while the pawls are adapted to cooperate with ratchets 43 mounted on the shafts 27. p

The bin or collector 44 is removably mounted on the slide 17 in such a manner that its rear wall 44 will abut against the ledge 17 of said slide. Said collector is held on said slide by spring members provided on said' slide 1'7 and adapted to engage flange-like projections 46 provided on the bin 44. The bin 44 is also provided with spring actuated supporting lugs 4'7 normally projecting transversely of the open bottom of said bin 44. There are as many pairs of such lugs 4'7 as the number of piles of boxes to be deposited in said bin.- Thus in the present example the collector 44 is designed for five piles, as shown, and hence there are five pairs of lugs 47. The inner faces of said lugs 4'7 are sloped, so that when the boxes W arefed upwardly-by the plunger 5 the lugs 47 will press laterally against the spring tension and permit the passing of the boxes into collector 44. After the passing of a box into the collector the spring lugs 4". are automatically returned into the position shown in Fig. 2 in which they support the box in the collector 44. V

The mode of operation is as follows:- The shaft 33 driven from the feed chain transmits its rotary motion to the worm wheels 28 in such a manner that the plunger 5 will rise or fall as many times as there are articles to form a pile in the collector 44, before the worm wheel 28 completes'a single revolution. When the worms 28 have completed a full revolution the depressions 42 o'f'the camrdisks 42 will have reached that point at which the rollers of the levers 41 are allowed to follow the tension of springs 40' (Fig. 3) permitting the pawls 40 to come into engagement with the ratchets 43 so that in the succeeding to and fro motion of thelevers 38 imparted to them by'the cam disks 32 the ratchets will be operated. This motion of the ratchets is transmitted to the pinions 26 and thence to the pinions 23 and consequently pinions 19 which mesh with the racks 18 on the slide 17. The transmission ratio between the pinions 23 and 26 is so selected that at each step of rotation of the ratchets 43 the collector 44' is displaced a distance of a pile in the direction. of the arrow shown in Fig. 1. After the completion of a pile, the newly arriving boxes are fed into the space behind said first pile and the operation continues until the secondpile is completed and the depression 42 of the cam disk 42 returns intov theposition shown in Fig. 3 in which the pawl 40 is again permitted to engage the ratchet 43 and effect a displacement of the collector 44 a distance of a pile :andso on untilthe last pile is completed. In order that after a collector 44has been filled it may be in due time replaced bya fresh one, a suitable signalling device (not 'shown) such as a bell or' the like may be provided.

When a new collector is placed on the slide 1'7, the latterirrespective of its position can be drawn back into the position shown in Fig.1. This is possible at any time owing'to the provision of the clutch coupling 21; 22.

Provided on the spring bars of the lugs 47 are rollers 56 at each side of the collector .1.4, the

number ,of pairs of rollers 56 corresponding with that of the piles; The rollers of each pair are equidistantly distributed at a distance from each other equal to that between two adjacent piles. The object of these rollers will be presently described.

After the collector has been thus filled with the predetermined piles of the cigarette boxes it is taken off the slide 17 and transported to the apparatus from which the boxes are to be delivered to the box consuming machine, such as a packeting machine. This apparatus, shown in Figs. 4 and 5, comprises a table 49 on which is 'emovably mounted a slide48 corresponding to the slide 17 of the box collecting apparatus shown in Figs. 1 3. The slide 48 is provided with guide bars 50 formed with rack teeth similar to those of the slide 17 and which cooperate with a motion transmitting and controlling mechanism identical in every respect with that of the first described apparatus.

Adjacent the table 49 is arranged a vertical channel or magazine 51 mounted over a feed track 52 on which run entraining members 53 secured to a feed chain 54. These entraining members'are each adapted to engage the lower most box W of the container 51 and feed it to the pack'eting machine or the like (not shown). The transmission ratio of the transmission and controlling gears in this apparatus is also so selected that during each one complete revolution of the cam disk 42 the entraining members 53 of the chain 54 will remove from the magazine 51 as many boxes as there are in a single pile in the collector 44. In the present example each pile contains 10 boxes, the device being so arranged that each time when a tenth box is removed from the channel 51 the displacement of the cam disks 42 will be located in their uppermost posi 1 permitting thereby the lowering of the pawls 40, into engagement thereof with the ratchets 43, and causing the displacement of the collector 44 the distance of a pile. Supported on the table 48 adjacent the magazine are cam bars 55 projecting into the path of the rollers 56 carried by the collector 44.

The transmission of motion from the driving shaft 12 to the shaft 63 of the feed chain driving wheel 1 is eiiected by sprocket wheel 60 fixed on shaft 12, sprocket wheel 62 fixed on shaft 63 and sprocket chain 61. For the transmission of motion from shaft 12 sprocket wheel 64 on shaft 12 and a sprocket wheel 65 on shaft 33 which sprocket wheels are connected by chain '72. Motion is transmitted to shaft 71 through the sprocket wheel 68 fixed on driving shaft 67 and sprocket wheel 70 fixed on shaft '71, which wheels are connected by chain 69. l

The mode of operation is as follows:-

-When a full bin 44 is mounted on the slide 48 the magazine is supposed to be filled with boxes to the level shown in Fig. 5. When the collector 44 is pushed into the position shown in Fig. 4, so that its first pile is in alignment with the magazine 51 the cam bars 55 will engage the first pair of rollers 56 and thereby cause the supporting lugs 47 to be automatically pushed sidewards, releasing the boxes of the first pile. As the boxes W are one by one removed from the magazine 51 by the entrainers 53 the boxes of the first. pile will drop from the collector into the magazine. When the boxes of the first pile have been emptied into the magazine 51, the collector 44 will be advanced by the slide 48 the distance of a new pile in the direction of the arrow shown in Fig. 4. Then the cam bars 55 will engage the second pair of rollers 56 correto shaft 33, I provide another.

spending to the second pile and thereby cause the supporting lugs 47 to be withdrawn from the supporting position and permitting. the boxes of the second pile to drop into the magazine and so on until the last pile of the collector 44 has been emptied into the magazine 51.

With this device there may also be provided a suitable signalling device (not shown) which will notify the operator that a new collector must be added.

It will be obvious that in this manner the supply of the products to the consuming machine from the producing machine may be maintained constant. l

I claim.

1. Apparatus comprising a machine for handling the articles produced in a producing machine including a collector, means the articles individually into saidcollector from the producing machine, means for causing said articles to be collected in separate piles, a slide on which the collector is mountedfor the purpose of intermittent displacement, racks provided on said slide, pinions meshing with said racks, cams co--operating with the slide, spring clamps for holding the collectors in position and a stop.

rail adapted to abut against the collector.

2. A method of securing the supply of products from a producing point to a consuming point at a constant rate, consisting in conveying said products individually to a collecting point, delivering them at said collecting point so as to form adjacent uniform piles, then delivering said piles into the vicinity of a storage point, discharging said piles successively to said storage point and feeding the products individually from said storage point to the consuming point the supply of products to said storage point being such that delivery therefrom to said consuming point is at a constant rate.

3. Apparatus for collecting articles from a producing machine, comprising a movable conveyor for said articles, an intermittently movable collector, means including a plunger for delivering said articles. individually into said collector in separate uniform piles and means for controlling the number of articles constituting a pile, said means including a cam operatively connected to said article conveyor and means controlled from said cam and cperatively connected to said movable collector.

I i. Apparatus for collecting articles from a producing machinecomprising a movable conveyor for said articles, a stationary support, a'

collector movably mounted thereon, means including a verticallyreciprocating plunger for delivering said articles individually into said collector, means for periodically displacing said collector so as to cause said articles to be arranged in adjacent piles in said collector and means for controlling the number of articles constituting a pile, said means comprising a cam operatively connected to said movable conveyor and means controlled from said cam and operatively connected to said movable collector.

for delivering conveyor for controlling ing a vertically reciprocating plunger, said feeding means including a slide on which said collector is mounted, and means cperatively connected to said movable conveyor for controlling the number of articles constituting eachpile.

6. Apparatus for collecting articles as per claim 5, in which the means for controlling the number of articles of each pile include a cam controlled pawl mechanism cperatively connected to said feeding means whereby after the completion of a pile, said collector is automatically displaced to receive the articles for an adjacent pile.

7. Apparatus for collecting articles as per claim 5, in which'the means for feeding said.

collector include a cam controlled ating with a ratchet mechanism.

8. An apparatus for feeding articles into a pawl cooperconsuming machine in a continuous train, com

prising an intermittently movable support, a

collector in which articles are arranged in adjaeach time the'number of articles equal to a pile are removed from said magazine.

9. Apparatus for collecting articles from a producing machine comprising a movable conveyor for said articles, a movable collector, means for feeding articles individually into said collector, means to form individual adjacent piles of articles in said collector, said means including, a slide on which said collector is mounted, a rack on said slide and cam controlled means operatively connected to said movableconveyor for engaging said rack and feeding said collector forwardly each time a determined number of articles have been delivered.

10. Apparatus for collecting articles from a producing machinecoinprising a movable conveyor for said articles, a movable collector, means for delivering articles individually into said collector and means for feeding said collector after a determined number of articles have been delivered thereto whereby adjacent piles of articles are formed therein, said feeding means including a pawl and ratchet mechanism and a cam disc operatively connected to said movable conveyor and controlling the movement of said pawl and ratchet mechanism. 1

' 11. Apparatus for collecting articles from a producing machine comprising a movable conveyor for said articles, a movable collector, means for deliveringarticles, individually into said collector andmeans for feeding said collector after a determined number of articles have been delivered thereto whereby adjacent piles means operatively connected to said movable mechanism.

' J OHANNES NEFF.

said pawl and ratchet 

